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Houston we have a problem!

I recieved a 3# package of russian bees with a mated queen, on monday. I installed them with the help of an experienced beekeeper, according the guidelines offered by the company. I did my first hive inspection today, again with help from my experienced friend. I watched a video on here yesterday that compared a queenless hive with a normal hive. I had a sneaking suspicion that mine could be queenless yesterday afternoon, because they had suddenly become agitated...lots of bees flying around the hive and they were louder than I'd remembered from earlier days. i put the thought aside as this is my very first attempt at beekeeping and I figured I was just experiencing some newbie worries. Today, we opened the hive and they had drawn comb on a few frames, as well as started storing some nectar and pollen. I started to worry when we got to the middle of the 8 frame hive because, as far as I could tell, there were no eggs to be seen anywhere. To make a long story short, after searching each frame twice looking for my marked queen, my friend finally noticed a small cluster of bees on the bottom of the hive. Sure enough, there was my queen, dead as a hammer. I have learned over my years dealing with horses, to veiw problems as opportunities and I guess that's how I see this unfortunate setback. Today, the hive acted much more calm and they appeared to be doing what they could while waiting for the queen. Lots of dandelions out and saw lots of workers hauling pollen in. I have no eggs and no larvae, so how should I proceed? Any help would be appreciated.

Re: Houston we have a problem!

Originally Posted by schmism

overnight a queen.

or ask the experienced beek for a frame of brood with newly layed eggs. the package can then raise a new one.

I will call the company tomorrow morning and see if I can get a new queen soon. My second thought was the frame of brood with new eggs. My buddy said he could do that, but it would set me back another month to get the queen hatched and mated. What are the odds that they will reject another queen?

Re: Houston we have a problem!

Do them both. New queen and a frame with open brood. A 3# pkg with un known ages of bees after a month couldn't be much. Plus, the quality of a queen from them would be poor IMHO. They will make a queen but IME, they supercede her sooner than later. Then you are back almost where you started. Lot of discussion on queen release is available on this forum. Search a decide. My 2cnts is to let the bees release the queen and leave them alone for two weeks min.
Rick

Re: Houston we have a problem!

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

I will call the company tomorrow morning and see if I can get a new queen soon. My second thought was the frame of brood with new eggs. My buddy said he could do that, but it would set me back another month to get the queen hatched and mated.

If you got a package and a dead queen what do you have to lose?

So you watched the video and they were agitated now they are calm and still queenless. That's why I say the video doesn't tell you much because what you see from the outside changes. Go with schmism's suggestion, a frame of brood and see what you can get from the supplier on a queen.

Re: Houston we have a problem!

The best way is to get a new queen to head this hive. It takes almost one month for the new queen to lay and
3 weeks or so for the nurse bees to emerge. This is almost 2 months combine. If the majority of the older worker
bees die off in 45 days or so then you don't have much workers left. But if you get a new laying queen then the
chance of survival is much greater, right.

Re: Houston we have a problem!

Grasshopper, you went to the trouble of getting the Russian bees. If you place a frame of eggs in the hive you will possibly be shooting yourself in the foot. Unless your experienced beek also raises Russians you would be loosing the genetics of the Russians you paid for. It will take about 49 days before new brood starts to emerge if the bees have to raise their own queen. That whole time your population is dwindling. Add to that you don't know what drones the new queen will mate with. Again, you're loosing the genetics you paid for. If you don't really care what breed you're working with, let them raise a queen or buy any old queen. If however, you really do want the Russain genetics, you only have 1 option and that's to get a new, mated queen ASAP. Letting them raise their own queen would most likely lead to the hive population trying to increase at a time of dearth in MO. You'll be feeding like crazy just to get them to build up enough to over winter successfully. Let us know what you decide and how it works out for you.

Re: Houston we have a problem!

Originally Posted by Wisnewbee

Grasshopper, you went to the trouble of getting the Russian bees. If you place a frame of eggs in the hive you will possibly be shooting yourself in the foot. Unless your experienced beek also raises Russians you would be loosing the genetics of the Russians you paid for. It will take about 49 days before new brood starts to emerge if the bees have to raise their own queen. That whole time your population is dwindling. Add to that you don't know what drones the new queen will mate with. Again, you're loosing the genetics you paid for. If you don't really care what breed you're working with, let them raise a queen or buy any old queen. If however, you really do want the Russain genetics, you only have 1 option and that's to get a new, mated queen ASAP. Letting them raise their own queen would most likely lead to the hive population trying to increase at a time of dearth in MO. You'll be feeding like crazy just to get them to build up enough to over winter successfully. Let us know what you decide and how it works out for you.

Wisnewnee
Honey Luv Farm

Thanks Wisnewnee

I was able to get a russian queen shipped overnight. My friend raises Russians as well, so no worries there. I got her this afternoon and I simply uncorked the candy side, drilled a small hole in the candy and placed her in the hive. I plan to leave them alone completely for at least a week. If this doesn't work, I have a nuc ordered that should be ready for pick up in a couple of weeks. If they reject her, I guess I'll try and combine them with the new hive.

Re: Houston we have a problem!

Hey, Grasshopper...
After about 50 phone calls to a North Carolina Russian breeder, I finally arrainged a purchase of 2) Nucs which I picked up last July. Well, now I've made 2 splits and need queens. Once again I've made several phone calls and they have become impossible to get in touch with. I'm not going to play this game again and have even considered requeening with an Italian, although I really want to maintain the genetics of my Russians. Could you give me a link or number of your Russian breeder so that I can get new queens?